Futurama
by Arainia
Summary: Chris's daughter comes from the future to reunite and reconcile her parents before she is even born. The problem is that her mother has remarried a louse, her dad doesn't know about her, and she barely knows how to use her powers! R&r please.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! I've decided to try writing a full-length fic (it's been quite awhile since I've written anything but oneshots for the site) but before you start reading I'd like to mention a few things:  
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1) If you take the time to read and review this I'd be especially grateful.

2) I know how much people _despise _"Mary Sue" characters. I will try my absoloute hardest not to write Teagan's mother as one (I don't think I could if I tried. Mary Sues just have this sickly-sweet quality... it makes you want to scream when you read about them).

3) I believe some disclaimers are in order; I'm only going to say this once: Charmed does not belong to me. I'm not making any profit from this story, I'm just dabbling around in the Charmedverse for awhile. _Teagan Rose_ and any other characters that you do not recognize _are_ mine. If you want to use them, just ask.

4) I'm using a style of writing that I don't usually attempt because I'm not very good with tenses. I've tried my best to keep it all in one tense but I apologize if there are any errors that I didn't catch.

5) I probably forgot something (I tend to do that a lot) and if I remember what it is, I'll just post it with the next chapter!  
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**1:**

**Teagan Rose**

At first when the child appears in their attic in a long white dress with purple flowers, they are stunned. She arrives with the assistance of a gleaming, blue portal that is now gaping at the back of their attic wall; but the most astounding thing about this little girl (who can't be more than five) is the fact that she resembles their son. Not enough for them to faint or anything, but enough for them to notice and clearly mark the similarities. Her dark brown hair (just like their son's) is down to her shoulders and she is smiling nervously, even as she looks at them with innocent determination in her bright green eyes. They are the same shape and colour as Chris's and for a moment, the middle-aged couple is transfixed by her. Finally, Piper, the matriarch of the Halliwell household finds her voice.

"Who are you?!" The little girl shrinks at Piper's slightly pitchy demand, Leo looks as if he might step forward to comfort her but he holds his ground. Who knows what service this child may require?

"My name is Teagan Rose Halliwell." She states. "I'm your granddaughter." She sticks out a tiny hand to shake (what a formal gesture!); Piper and Leo are at a loss for words.

"Excuse me, you're our _what_?" Piper tries not to scream, tries to be rational about this whole thing. Her wide brown eyes dart about the attic, taking in every piece of clutter- from the old baby blankets that once swaddled her now-teenaged children to the prom dress that her sister Prue once wore, even though she'd never made it to the actual event- but she wasn't really seeing anything. Well, she did see the little girl still holding out her hand- Teagan's her name. _Wait._ Piper freezes, _if this really is her granddaughter, then why doesn't her name start with a p_? All of the girls in the family had names beginning with that initial, it was simply _tradition_. Ignoring what she sees (a tiny face that looked just like that of her youngest son when he was so small); Piper forces her voice to work and manages to keep a steady gaze on Teagan.

"Why doesn't your name start with a p?" She asks and Teagan sighs.

"How should I know?" Teagan plants her hands on her hips and raises her head, half-defiant, half-curious. Leo still hasn't said anything useful but he's probably still dumb-struck. "Mommy named me Teagan because it's her favourite name for girls."

"If you were part of this family, your name would start with a p."

"Piper!" Leo admonishes; he did find it very odd that the family tradition could be broken with a name like Teagan but it wasn't an improbable happening. After all, their sons did not carry names with that initial (though Chris's middle name is Perry) and their youngest niece's name did not start with a p.

"What? It's a reasonable question." Piper defends, crossing her arms over her chest and whipping around to glare at her husband. Even in her mid-forties, Piper is as brusque as ever.

"She's just a kid."

"So?" Piper deflects this observation before the truth of his words, accompanied by guilt, can set in. "Every girl in our family has a name that starts with p."

"That isn't true. Davina's doesn't." Piper scowls at being contradicted but this is proof she cannot deny; Phoebe flouted family tradition by picking that name for her youngest. But that wasn't a big deal because it wasn't a cardinal sin to break tradition and Piper knew this; she was only trying to test this young girl out.

"I wouldn't know anything about family tra… tradition?" Teagan frowns and tilts her head at Leo, the more receptive of her two greeters, to see if she pronounced the word correctly. He nods kindly at her and she smiles.

"Why wouldn't you?" Piper wants to know, like a greyhound on the scent of a wounded animal. "If you're a Halliwell you'd know all about us."

"Piper, she's young. Don't interrogate her like an adult."

"She could be a spy."

"From _where_?" Leo is exasperated with his wife's unrelenting crabbiness- what's her problem today?

"The future." Teagan pronounces future like 'footure' and her slip up makes Leo smile; Piper attempts to hold hers back. "But I'm not a spy, and I don't know about your family traditions 'cause my dad doesn't know about me."

Any questions Piper had thought up are gone at this piece of information; she gasps and Leo adopts a worried expression.

"I'm not supposed to be here," Teagan goes on, her voice dropping lower as she looks at the dusty attic floor. "I'm supposed to be over at the neighbour's while Mommy's at work but I snuck back home to use magic."

"If you don't know about the Halliwells, then how would you know about magic?" Piper stammers. She looks at the clock, it is only ten in the morning and she is relieved to know that her sons are both on an all-day field trip with the rugby team.

"My mommy's a witch, too." Teagan's youthful face screws up in confusion, as if she wonders what else her mother could be.

"A witch assassin?" Leo voices his wife's thoughts before she has the chance. Wyatt (their older son) doesn't have a girlfriend at the moment, but Chris is seeing a demonic witch assassin named Bianca. Though they'd met Bianca in the past, Chris's parents still feel perturbed when she is around- she is older and more experienced, and the deeper Chris falls into love with her the more chance he has of being corrupted- but this is no time to dwell on Chris's love-life. They are waiting on their granddaughter to give them a proper answer (wow. That sounds strange- _they're_ _granddaughter_).

"A _what_?" Teagan answers with a question of her own but this is all they can expect from a child of her age; she has the worldliness of a newborn fawn that has barely begun to peep around her mother's legs for a glimpse of the outside world. Albeit, it was pretty brave (and reckless) to come to the future by herself. She is starting to seem more like kin to them by the minute but they mustn't be too certain. All of a sudden, the loud noise of a gurgling stomach halts the conversation; both adults look at Teagan who flashes them another wide smile (it's different than Chris's) and flushes, patting her stomach.

"Oops," she says. "Guess I shoulda eaten breakfast."

"Why didn't you?" Piper asks, in spite of her apprehensions she is a firm believer that children should have three square meals a day and then some if they're still hungry.

"My stepbrothers stole my cereal," Teagan admits, tears prick at the backs of her eyelids when she thinks of the older, rowdier boys she is supposed to consider her new "family". "They hate me but they act all nice to Mommy. She had to go into work early this morning for a meeting so it was Lawrence's job to take care of me. But he doesn't do too well of a job, he just watches TV during breakfast."

"Lawrence?" Piper arches an eyebrow.

"Mommy's new husband. He's supposed to be like a new dad for me, but I don't really like him. He has bad table manners and he's not funny."

Piper and Leo exchange a glance; if Teagan is lying she is going through an awful lot of trouble to do so. And she looks almost like a carbon copy of Chris….

"Why don't we go get you some food?" Leo suggests then, holding out his hand to guide the child through the attic and down the steps. "And you can tell us more while you're eating!"

"Okay," Teagan accepts his hand without hesitation- the willingness to trust is a sure sign that she has not yet before faced a demon attack- "oh, but I can't tell you much about the future." Her bright expression turns solemn. "I don't wanna change it too much!" Piper snorts and covers a laugh with her hand- this was a phrase she'd heard too often in the past. Teagan gives her an inquisitive look but Piper is quick to trot on ahead of them, intent on fixing the girl a proper meal. Grandchild or not she was young, she needed nutrients.

Teagan seemed awed just by the front hallway, the kitchen itself brought wonder into her malachite orbs and her mouth fell open a fraction. "Wow. Is this where Daddy lives? My real one?"

Piper, who is standing by the stove making pancakes, phrases her next question with careful diplomacy, her voice neutral: "Who _is_ your dad, Teagan?"

"I don't know his first name," Teagan admits as Leo hoists her into a kitchen chair with the natural ease of a father who has raised three children (Wyatt, Chris, and of course, Melinda, who would rather _not_ admit that she once relied on her parents for anything). "Mommy doesn't like to talk about him. I only know his last name 'cause my grandma mentioned it once and I was eavesdropping when I was supposed to be sleeping. I've got a picture of him though. Wanna see? It'll _prove _I'm related to you." She implores and Leo smiles. It's refreshing to see a kid so young and carefree in his house. Well, maybe not carefree as she came on a mission to find her real father, but she was still as naïve as any other kid her age might be.

"I'd like to see that very much." Leo wants some evidence that will affirm his relation to this adorable little girl and Teagan fishes around in the pocket of her dress for said photograph. She makes a great show of handing it to Leo. He wants to wait for Piper to examine the picture with him but his eyes will not obey his wishes and they stray to the photograph. The first thing he notices is, of course, the male in the picture and he cannot stop his eyes from popping out of his head, or his heartbeat from quickening. The male in the picture has mussed dark brown hair and bright green eyes- he is wearing a Zoo York hoodie with jeans- he looks _just_ like the Chris who had come to the past in order to save his brother from turning evil. He is the man Piper and Leo's son will physically become in this altered, better future where Wyatt is not a malevolent dictator and Chris is not his number one enemy. This is the future where they are brothers and best friends who still manage to grate on each other's nerves; this is the future where they are both do-gooders.

_But_, Leo looks over at the little girl who has her face propped up in both hands, _how many people still suffer?_

Leo studies the picture more intently and realizes that the soft, blithe gleam in his son's eyes indicate that the young man is in love (either that or he is on drugs). Leo's attention is inadvertently drawn to the young woman that Chris has his arm around, a petite girl about his age with light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She is also dressed in casual clothes- an oversized band t-shirt that the Chris of the present has in his closet now, and pyjama pants- they are both sitting on a brown leather couch. If Leo is not mistaken, that is the couch that Piper's father Victor just bought a week ago to put into his living room! Leo scrutinizes the girl more thoroughly; she's pale with wide hazel eyes that are hidden behind glasses, the extent of her smile takes up her whole face and lights up the picture. The retired elder is sure that he has seen that big, enchanting smile somewhere before…

Piper sets a plate of pancakes, a fork, and some napkins in front of Teagan who thanks her profusely and then launches right into saying her prayers (this earns raised eyebrows from Piper and Leo but they reserve comment), as predicted Teagan gets maple syrup all over her face and hands within minutes.

"I brought a picture of my mommy and dad together." Teagan tells Piper conversationally, "wanna see it?"

"Mhmm." Piper scuttles around to Leo's shoulder but she is not as placid when she realizes that it is indeed Chris who is looking back at her in the photograph. "Oh my God! Christopher!" She does not know how she feels about this; she looks over at Teagan. Why would Chris leave the child and her mother? The girl Chris is with doesn't seem like such a horrible witch (no pun intended)…

"Christopher? Who's that?"

"My son." Piper mumbles distractedly.

"Is _that_ my dad?"

"Uh, Teagan, we might have to summon your mom…" Leo starts, his head is spinning and time is moving too quickly and he wishes he could think clearly right then.

"You can't!" Teagan's eyes grow wide and she looks terrified.

"Why not?" Piper is concerned now, why should she be so visibly afraid of her mother?

"I'm not allowed to use magic!" Teagan frets, "Lawrence and his numbskull sons don't know anything about it. Mommy wouldn't be very happy if she had to come home from work to get me from the past… Lawrence doesn't work 'cause he's a…" she paused. "A deadbeat. Or at least that's what Mrs. Rowan says."

"Mrs. Rowan?" Piper can't even begin to recognize the name.

"The neighbour that babysits me." Teagan clarifies. "She doesn't like Lawrence or Kyle or Darren at all."

"Kyle and Darren?"

"My step-brothers." Teagan makes a face, "Kyle is twelve and _extremely_ mean. Darren is ten and he's okay sometimes, but if his brother tells him to be a jerk to me then he will be."

"I see. So, your mother's the only one who works in the house-"

"We live in a townhouse." Teagan pipes up, "it's all we can afford. Mommy keeps putting money in her bank account but Lawrence takes it out to buy stuff. She gets mad at him but she doesn't say anything 'cause he'll yell at her if she does."

Piper looks absolutely horrified that this woman's savings are being leached away by a "deadbeat" as her granddaughter so kindly put it. To top it off, Lawrence sounds like a verbally abusive pig (but she couldn't be too hasty with those assumptions). Tossing aside her inhibitions, she goes over to Teagan and hugs her. The girl stiffens, surprised at first but it only takes her seconds to melt into Piper's warm embrace.

"So are you my grandma?" She asks as Piper pulls away to _really_ look at her. She has the same beaming smile as the unidentified girl in the picture but her face shape and nose and dark hair are all Chris's.

"I'm almost a hundred percent sure." Piper agrees and then smiles; there is no denying the relation. "_Teagan_." She has to get used to the name- it is not one she's heard often but she guesses that it will grow on her. Teagan's grin threatens to split her entire face and her eyes are alight with happiness.

"Awesome! So what do I call you guys? You look too young to be grandparents."

"We _are_ too young to be grandparents." Piper admits in a wry tone, "but that's right now. This is the past, you see."

"Oh, right!"

"You can call us Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt for now." Leo tells her and, seeing that she has finished with her food, he helps wipe the last of the syrup from her face and lifts her down from the chair. "How about you come watch some cartoons in the parlour?" He suggests.

"The parlour?" Teagan reiterates.

"Yes, I'll show you the way." Leo extends his hand again and Teagan grasps it. "Thanks, Mr. Wyatt!" Leo gets her set up watching an old _Spongebob Squarepants _rerun on Nickelodeon and soon enough, she is absorbed by the null storyline of the absurd sea-sponge and his friends. Leo manages to sneak away; he and Piper converge at the entrance to the parlour.

"Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt?" Piper questions acerbically, she is confused and slightly pouty. Why would Leo of all people have his own family address him as such?

Leo smiles reassuringly and hugs his wife closer to him. "Nobody knows about her yet. If the kids come home and there's a kid in our house calling us 'grams and grandpa', they're _bound_ to unleash a torrent of questions. They're like you that way." He finishes teasingly with a tender glint in his eye for the woman that he will love for all his days.

"Very funny," Piper puts a hand on his chest and drops her head on his shoulder with an exhausted sigh, as if the events of the day- it was supposed to be her day off from managing the restaurant- were too much for her to handle. Leo wraps a steadying arm around her back and kisses her hair.

"She looks just like Chris, you know. Even if she goes around calling us Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt- which I'm _not_ happy about- they're going to know that something's not right." Piper points out softly. "Besides, now that we know about her we have to do some investigative research."

"Investigative research?" Leo doesn't get what she means. "Why would we? She's our granddaughter; she came from the future, that's that."

"No, Leo," Piper declines, rolling her eyes. "There's more to Teagan's story than that… like who's her mother and why the hell doesn't Chris know about her?" The conversation is whispered so as not to alert Teagan. "Something's not right, and we're going to find out what."

"Piper, the only way we'd know for sure is to either go to the future or get Teagan to tell us."

"She's a kid, Leo! She obviously doesn't know much about her mother's relationship with Chris… she didn't even know his first name. She was so desperate she had to eavesdrop on a conversation with her grandma! And what if our last name was Johnson or something? She would've gone to the wrong family!"

"Johnson?" Leo has to laugh at the generic last name; generic would _never_ fit the Charmed Ones.

"Oh hush you."

"Why's Teagan's mom so averse to her knowing about him?"

"Who knows? Maybe she was the product of a one-night stand."

"Fat chance. Did you _see_ the same picture that I did?"

"Fine." Piper knows she can't win with that. "Is it wrong that I'm starting to dislike Teagan's mom right now?" She wonders rhetorically; she already knows the logical answer her pacifist husband will supply.

"We don't even know the woman. Whatever reasons she had for keeping Teagan a secret were probably justified in her own mind… but she does look sort of familiar."

"You got that too, huh?" Piper is glad that she wasn't the only one who vaguely recognized the female in the photo. "Jeez, how crazy would it be if we already know her?"

"Stranger things have happened." Leo chuckles.

"Don't remind me," Piper scowls playfully, "but at least the mother's not Bianca."

"Chris and Bianca were engaged at one point in time…" Leo points out contemplatively.

"No, they were engaged in _another time_." Piper refutes stubbornly, she will never see what her son sees in that conniving demon. She will never understand the nature of their relationship- she does not want to see beyond what she sees now. And right now, she sees a granddaughter with a mother who is _not _Bianca (thank goodness!).

"Fine, stubborn old girl." Leo flashes a charming smile and Piper almost buckles at the knees. He is so damn erogenous, even after all these years! She allows a suggestive giggle to escape her lips, twisting around in his arms.

"Um, excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt?" Teagan is now standing before them, peering up at them anxiously. "Where's your bathroom? I hafta use the toilet."

"Right this way!" Piper breaks out of the sultry contact and leads Teagan to the bathroom where she waits outside the door until the little one is finished with her business and has washed her hands. Teagan is captivated by Spongebob upon returning to the parlour and Leo is still there waiting. He has apparently reached a conclusion.

"Teagan can't stay here," he observes in a hushed whisper.

"I know." Piper acquiesces, "but it's not like we can just send her back to her own time with a note, asking her mother for answers."

"Her mom's going to notice that she's gone."

"Definitely. And if she's a _good mother_, she'll panic like there's no tomorrow."

"I'm sure she is. I'm pretty sure that the deadbeat had no part in raising her. Whatever Teagan learned, she learned from her mother." At this their eyes rove over to Teagan, giggling madly at Squidward Tentacles.

"Who can watch her?" Piper and Leo try to come up with an easy answer to that question. They have so few reliable contacts; each and every person they come up with is close with the family- maybe too close.

"Billie?" Leo offers the candidacy of Billie Bricker (nee, Jenkins) a woman who had betrayed the Halliwells in the past. Despite her duplicity towards the family, she'd remained loyal and true to them after the "final battle". Phoebe, Paige, their respective families and Leo had all forgiven her for her mistake. Piper had not. The look she shoots him is one that could probably make Teagan cry.

"Fine, that's a no." Leo scratches the back of his neck in thought. "Erm, Paige?"

"She works during the day and so does Henry. Who would be home to take care of her?" Piper deduces the one significant flaw with that suggestion.

"Phoebe?"

Piper snorts. "Phoebe can't keep a secret to save her life!" This is true; any secret that is told to the middle sister will eventually end up in the open somehow, and Teagan is too explosive a bombshell to ask Phoebe to hold her tongue over. There is no way she could manage something like that without caving in. And all three of Phoebe's daughters had inherited the "blabber-mouth" gene so they won't be of any help.

Leo is adamant about this, though. "That's true but Piper, think about it. Phoebe can stay home for Teagan because she's able to write her advice column wherever she wants." This is true, Phoebe is a widely-known advice columnist, thanks to her fame and credibility, her boss Elise can not deny her the privilege of working from home. "And I'm sure Phoebe could hold this secret in long enough for us to get this 'investigative research' done… she'd do it for her great-niece. She'd do it for Chris."

Piper bites the tip of her tongue, absorbing all of these facts. "It's a good idea," she finally, slowly concedes. "But if Phoebe tells…"

"Then we're screwed."

"Right. Should I call them?"

"Better call Paige and Henry too." Leo adds. "We might as well have everyone meet her now… she can go home with your sister and Coop before the kids get back from school."

Piper nods. "Let Teagan know we're having people over so she's not overwhelmed when she sees them." Husband and wife separate to work on their individual tasks; they know not much of the child watching cartoons in their house but they are almost certain that she is their kin and she needs their help. And help her they will.

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**Okay, how was it? Awful? Good? Horribly boring? Please send me some feedback by clicking on that review button. You know you want to -smiles hopefully-.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for all of the feedback! It's really appreciated. -beams widely-. I have to warn you that the next couple of chapters are kind of slow, I'm just setting up the characters as well as their motivations. I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors.**

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**2:**

**Meet the Family**

"Hold on, Piper, slow down!" Paige Matthews, Social Worker Extraordinaire and Charmed One to boot, is on the phone with her seemingly frantic half-sister. "What's the big emergency?" Paige hopes beyond anything that this isn't a demonic distress call; if it is she will abandon her work duties to tend to her familial ones but she will not be happy about it. Today is the day she is supposed to award a loving father custody of his child- the little boy was being held hostage by his grandparents after the mother died in an auto accident. It is a sad situation either way but Paige is determined to at least see this case through. She wants to see father and son reunited, she wants to make sure that the grandparents do not interfere. She wants this done by law.

Piper sounds anxious over something and Paige crosses her fingers.

"What's going on?" She asks, "And if it's not that important, can it wait until after lunch? I wanna make sure this kid goes home with his father."

"Yeah, we do too." Piper shoots back tersely; Paige cocks an eyebrow and leans back in her office chair.

"Okay, okay, I'll bite." She allows, "what's going on now?"

"Oh, nothing. Chris's daughter just came from the future." Paige sits up straighter in her chair, eyes bugging out.

"Okay, _what_?!"

"Yeah. That's what I said."

"How can you be so calm about this? Do you know her name?!"

"Yes, obviously. Her name's Teagan."

"What, no p name?" Paige weakly attempts a joke.

"Apparently not. Chris from the future doesn't know about her. She came back looking for him because she wanted to know who her real father is."

"He doesn't _know_?" Paige is glad she has her own office; if she were still trapped in a cubicle she knows that people would be looking at her weirdly. "Jeez, I know Bianca's a bitch but I never thought she'd keep a child from Chris…"

"The mother's not Bianca."

"Then who is it?"

"We don't know. We have a picture of her but that's all."

"What, no name?"

"Teagan won't tell us. She's afraid of changing the future too much."

"Ah, I see the neurosis is a recessive gene." Paige remarks teasingly; everyone knows that Chris and Piper are both neurotically paranoid, though Chris on a lesser scale because he is younger and more foolish.

"Yeah, yeah, can it." Piper orders teasingly; while she and Paige may not have been fond of each other at first (meeting just after the funeral of Piper and Phoebe's elder sister Prue), they are best friends now. "So can you get down here?"

Paige consults the big clock hanging on the wall. "Would you be mad if I got there after lunch?" She asks. "It's just that I really want to help this boy and his father. Plus, on my lunch I'll swing by the station and grab Henry so we can both meet our… great-niece? Wow."

"What?"

"That's _so_ weird. Our great-niece. Is she cute?"

"She looks just like Chris."

"I always knew he would be a pretty girl."

"Hardy har har, aren't you just the comedian today?"

"I think I'm funny everyday." A man sticks his head around Paige's office door without knocking. "The Styne grandparents and the boy are here. The father called to let us know he'd be a little late." Paige nods quickly and holds up her finger, signalling for him to wait one second.

"Shoot, Piper, I have to go. I'll see you at twelve thirty, one by the latest."

"Sounds good." Piper replies. "Good luck with that case."

"Thanks." Paige surrenders the phone to its cradle and stands up. "Sorry about that, it was my sister."

"No big family emergencies, I hope?" The man at the door is one rank below mailroom duty; he is a page boy who runs errands and gets coffee for his superiors. Paige gives a wry half-smile at his bold prying.

"Nothing more than usual." Paige assuages, breezing out the door. "She just wants to meet up with me for lunch."

After Piper has finished her call with Paige she phones Phoebe; she is working from home today because the newspaper's headquarters are being renovated after a small (mermaid-related) flood. Phoebe sounds hyped up on coffee and ready to take on the world.

"Hey, Piper!"

"What's with the perkiness?" Piper winces and holds the phone away from her ear.

"Sorry. I was up all night trying to bake cookies for Davina's sleepover this weekend."

"Uh huh." Piper knows her sister is _horribly _inept in the kitchen; she can't even use a microwave oven without injuring some appendage. "And how many cups of coffee have you had today?"

"Oh, let's see. I was up making the cookies till four and then I gave up and went to bed at four thirty… I woke up at six… and so far I've had approximately five cups of java."

"Wow, it's not even noon yet. Impressive."

"Piper?"

"Yes?"

"Could you make the cookies for Davina's sleepover?"

"Of course," Piper is one of the most skilful chefs- maybe even the _best_- in San Francisco. She loves cooking and baking, especially when it revolves around her family. "What does she want? Macadamia nut? Oatmeal raisin?"

"Chocolate chip is fine." Phoebe explains gratefully. "So, what's going on?" Piper repeats her scenario to Phoebe and, as expected, the wired middle sister is shocked. But not shocked enough to be silent.

"How do you not know who her mother is? Thank God it's not Bianca… ohmiGod, are you _sure_ it's not Bianca? Is she cute? Who picked the name Teagan? Does Chris know about her? She sounds adorable!"

"Slow down, Phoebes, you're liable to give an old woman a migraine." Piper sits down in a kitchen chair and begins answering the rapid-fire inquiries. "First off, we don't know who Teagan's mother is because she won't give us a name; she doesn't want to risk impacting the future negatively. Second of all, we have a picture of her mother and it's _not_ Bianca. I'm assuming that her mother picked her name and Chris had no part in the decision; neither his future or present self know about her and it's going to stay that way until we can get this whole mess sorted out."

"I'll be there in twenty minutes." Phoebe promises, "I'll bring Coop!"

"Thanks, Phoebes."

"Want me to pick up lunch? Let me pick up lunch! Does she like McDonald's?"

"Phoebe, Phoebe, calm down." Piper urges with a slight grimace. "And I'm not sure if she likes McDonald's but why would you want to feed her a greasy heart attack in a bag anyway?"

"Heart attack in a bag?" Phoebe sniggers.

"Seriously," Piper blows an errant strand of hair off her face. "I can make her a sandwich or something for lunch."

"No," Phoebe whines insistently, "let me get her something. I know! I'll get Wendy's!" She is so bubbly and jubilant that Piper does not want to argue with her (she won't give up the cause until she calms down anyway). She finally relents and hangs up, retreating to the parlour where Leo is seated on the couch. Teagan is in his lap, her head tilted and her eyes wide as she listens to the story that he is narrating to her.

"Story time?" Piper plonks down on the arm of the couch and Teagan smiles at her.

"Mr. Wyatt is telling me about Melinda Warren." She says proudly, she's happy to be privy to at least some ancestral knowledge.

"Leo, is that really wise?" Piper's tone of voice indicates that she does not think "story time" is a good idea.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean how do you know she won't tell her mother when she gets back to the future?"

Leo turns to Teagan and asks her, "Will you keep the story I told you a secret?" Teagan makes a 'zipping the lips' gesture and nods wildly.

"Of course, Mr. Wyatt! If I tell Mommy she'll know I came to the footure, and that wouldn't be good for me because she would be worried about the cons'quences."

"She'd be worried about the _consequences_." Piper corrects mildly and Teagan, oblivious to her own slight, nods and smiles.

"Exactly! Good to know we're all on the same page." Her grandparents exchange a look over her head; she's bright for her age and sassy too. No doubt that when she becomes a teenager she will be an attitudinal little rebel, quite like Piper's own daughter

The front door opens with a voluble creak and Phoebe's voice calls out: "Hello? We're here!"

"We come bearing gifts!" Coop adds comically and Piper smiles wryly, heading to greet her sister and brother-in-law. Leo stands and holds his hand out to Teagan. She does not move from the couch.

"Mr. Wyatt?"

"Hmm?"

"Who's at the door?"

"That's Phoebe and her husband, Coop. They're your great aunt and uncle… they're nice. Let's go and I'll introduce you to them." Teagan nods and hops off the couch, holding his hand as she follows him through to the front hallway. Phoebe is just hanging up her jacket. She nearly drops it to the floor when she catches sight of the child, half-hidden behind Leo's leg.

"She's _precious_!" Phoebe is all but squealing as she rushes to Leo (discarding her jacket, apparently it was too much of a hassle to put it on the coat stand) and kneels down. She parks herself on her haunches and grins her 'golden girl' smile. The one that could warm even the coldest of hearts; the one that Piper and Paige have always secretly envied. The technique works on the suddenly shy Teagan; she abandons her hiding place and stands in front of Phoebe, drawing up to her full height.

"Hi sweetie!" The coffee hasn't worn off yet. "I'm your aunt Phoebe."

"My name's Teagan." She sticks out a hand for her to shake; Phoebe lets out another shrill of delight and engulfs her in a strong, sudden hug.

"Uh," Teagan coughs, "air! I need air!"

"Easy, Phoebe!"

"Oh, sorry." Phoebe separates herself, face and neck starting to redden. She leans back, still on her haunches. "It's just that she looks so much like Chris…" she looks at Piper with wonder in her gaze. "Does she know? You know, that Chris is her…"

"She's not dumb; I'd wager she knows by now." Piper rolls her eyes good-naturedly and takes the Wendy's bag from Coop's arms. He thanks her with a Crest toothpaste commercial grin, strips off his shoes, and half-runs, half-slides to his surprised great-niece.

After they have fawned over her enough, they allow her to go to the kitchen where she scrabbles clumsily into a chair (Leo catches her when she's on the brink of falling) to eat her meal. She thanks Phoebe and Coop for the food very politely and says her grace before digging in.

Piper shepherds them all into the dining room because she knows that Phoebe is about to implode from all the questions she wants to ask.

"She is _so cute_!" Phoebe praises in a whisper and Coop agrees with her.

"She looks exactly like her father… are you going to tell Chris about her?"

"We're here!" Henry Mitchell, Paige's lawfully-wedded husband, calls as the manor door swings open for the second time that day.

"In the dining room!" Piper calls out to her guests and she goes to the kitchen to make sure that Teagan is not mauled by another fawning aunt (though Phoebe is definitely the worse of the two). Teagan's head has shot up at the voice and her eyes sweep around the room, she has a ketchup stain on her lip from her burger but she still manages to look serious.

Paige and Henry cut through the kitchen (as expected) and Paige halts, rearing backwards like a spooked mare when she sees Teagan.

"… She looks just like him." Paige breathes in wonderment, Henry, who is a mortal, stops as well.

"You're right. She's the spitting image." Teagan looks indignantly up at "Mrs. Wyatt" as if to question her why these people are just standing around uselessly.

"My name's Teagan," she explains, storing her food in her cheeks like a chipmunk might store nuts. "You guys must be Paige and Henry. Mr. Wyatt told me about you."

"Mr. Wyatt?" Paige repeats disbelievingly with a glance at Piper, one of her thin eyebrows arched. Piper only shrugs and turns to lead them into the dining room. "We'll be in there if you need anything, Teagan." She assures her.

Teagan peers up at her steadily. "Are you talking about me?"

"Err,"

"Can I come in when I'm finished eating?"

"Of course you can." Piper smiles and pats her arm awkwardly.

"You got her Wendy's?" Paige knows how fast-food intolerant Piper is.

"Phoebe's idea," the older sister refutes plainly; she and the other two adults leave to the dining room. Paige resumes looking at Teagan when they are safely tucked into the dining room and out of earshot.

"Isn't she cute?" Phoebe crows, both of her sisters are brought back to the time when Wyatt was just an infant. Since he was the first child to be born in the family, Phoebe had doted on him (and tried to breast feed him, much to Piper's horror), she is looking over Teagan like she wants to love her and spoil her as much as she would a girl of her own. Phoebe has always had a soft spot for kids.

"I always knew Chris would be a pretty girl." Paige says. Everyone shares a laugh at that before gathering around the long dining room table.

"So how did she get here?" Phoebe asks the most basic of questions. "Did she research us or something?"

"No." Piper combs her fingers through her long hair, it may just be her imagination but she thinks that the once-lustrous brown locks are beginning to fade. "Her mother is a witch, apparently. She has two mean stepbrothers, one deadbeat of a step dad, and she's not to use magic in front of them. I'm assuming that means they're mortal."

"Most likely," Paige takes it all in. "So what, did she just show up here?"

"I'm pretty sure she used a spell because she opened a portal to get to the past."

"Hold it; doesn't she know how dangerous that is?" Paige demands. "She could've ended up in another century!"

"Or with the Johnson's." Leo remarks wryly. Piper swats at him, missing her target completely.

"Yeah, well, we don't know much about Teagan except that she came back here looking for her father-"

"Chris?" Coop interjects; he just wants to be certain. Piper nods. "Leo, where's the picture she showed us earlier?"

"In my pocket." The small voice comes from the entranceway and Teagan ambles in with a smile, ketchup still smearing her lip. Piper looks past her head into the kitchen to see what mess she had left but the only thing she finds is the kid's meal bag waiting patiently by the sink.

"Where's the garbage from your meal?"

"Mommy told me it's rude to leave messes in other people's houses." Teagan offers, "so I put everything back in its bag. See? It's by the sink 'cause I don't know where your garbage is." She points it out and then walks over to Leo's chair. He sets her in his lap easily and Phoebe pouts indignantly. Leo laughs at her overt disappointment at not getting to hold Teagan.

"Do you want to sit with your aunt Phoebe?" He suggests, hoping she will agree because if not, Phoebe's very world may be shattered for the day.

Teagan only shrugs. "Um, okay." She slides off of Leo's lap and moves around the table until she reaches Phoebe. The dark-haired woman immediately swoops her up and plonks her in her lap, fondling her hair. Teagan squirms for a few minutes before finally realizing that Phoebe will not quit it, she settles back uncertainly while her aunt continues to marvel at her.

"So, Teagan," Paige tries to be persuasive. "Tell us about yourself."

"Um…" Teagan looks flustered for a minute before replying, "I guess that depends on what you wanna know. I can't tell you some stuff because I don't want to change the future."

"Well, let's start with something simple. What's your full name?" Paige is sure that this will reveal the surname of Teagan's own mother. But Teagan only gives her the same answer she gave to Piper and Leo.

"Teagan Rose Halliwell."

"Hmm." Paige lets out a minimal grunt of frustration but perks up again. "How old are you?"

"Five." Teagan holds up one hand, each of her five digits spread out. "Oh! That reminds me; I can only come back here every other day 'cause I go to kindergarten. When I'm not in school, Mrs. Rowan watches me and that's why I could get here."

They all nod, taking in this information. They quiz her on trivial things for awhile more (what's her favourite colour, her favourite animal, and her favourite bedtime story, some of her dislikes); no more personal information has been extracted. Phoebe, now feeling comfortable enough with her, decides to be brazen and ask a tough question.

"Teagan, why are you here? Did you just want to meet your daddy?" Teagan's desire to find her father is a reasonable one but her relatives are rapidly learning she is an intelligent child. As Phoebe expected, she shakes her head and bites her inferior lip.

"What did you _really_ come here for, then? You can tell us, we won't be angry." Phoebe goads; Teagan shoots an uncertain look at her grandparents.

"Do you think it would change the footure too much if I answered that question?"

"No," Piper smiles encouragingly, eager to figure out the reason why her son's daughter _really_ came back. "I don't think it would change the future too much."

"Future." Teagan repeats the word slowly, the right way, tilting her head to the left before straightening up again. "Are you sure things won't change?"

"We're a hundred percent positive!" Paige enforces optimistically, Leo sends her a look; nothing is ever a hundred percent certain with magic. Especially not time travel. But now that Teagan has been reassured, she opens her mouth to tell her tale. It's quite a mind-blowing one, especially since she's only five.

"Mommy and I used to live alone together in the townhouse before she met Lawrence. I never really asked about my dad before because I didn't think I had to. Then when she started seeing Lawrence she _really_ liked him." It was apparent that Teagan was impervious to any charm her stepfather might hold. "She was all gushy over him. Whenever he came over they acted like a pair of lovey-dovey birds." Teagan's little nose scrunches in disdain.

"When Lawrence asked Mommy to marry her I knew that she was making a _big_ mistake. The worst, biggest mistake _ever_. Lawrence just isn't the one for her, even if she's totally blind about it. She _thinks_ she's in love with the guy."

"And you know she's not truly in love with him?" Coop is especially interested in the love gossip- being a cupid, love is his forte.

Teagan raises her head and looks him straight in the eye. "Of course I know. I'm her daughter, I know her better than anyone." The adults can't hold their laughter in, Teagan, not understanding why this is so funny, patiently waits for them to calm down before she continues. "Anyway, I started asking Mommy questions about my real dad and I did some snooping…"

"Snooping?" Phoebe's laugh bursts out before she can stop it.

"I went through the boxes in her closet. She never lets anyone see those. Not even Lawrence or his nosy sons. That's where I found the picture of Mommy with my dad." Teagan smiles, unrepentant for going through her mother's personal items. "And when I saw the guy in the picture, I just _knew_ he was my dad. And I've never seen Mommy look happier than she did in that picture. Well," she pauses and thinks about this for a minute. "She was happy when it was just me and her. Lawrence ruined everything."

"I see." Piper is wondering whether or not Teagan is really speaking the truth, or what she _believes_ to be the truth; some kids can't adjust to stepparents. Maybe she is exaggerating her own feelings towards Lawrence, firmly convinced in her own mind that her mother- whoever the hell she is- is not in love with Lawrence.

"You probably think I'm making this up because I don't like Lawrence, right?" Teagan deadpans, frowning.

"Uh-" _how could she know that?_

"I saw it on an episode of Dr. Phil once. These kids didn't like their step mom so they tried to say that their dad didn't really like her either."

"That old hack is still around in your time?" Phoebe's dismayed by this news and the other adults shoot her amused looks. "What? I think his advice is overused and cliché… so sue me."

"So, basically, what you're saying is that you came back to find your biological father because you think your mom is still in love with him?" Coop turns the attention back to the little girl in Phoebe's hold.

"Mhmm." She nods and then looks around as if to make sure that she won't be overheard by the wrong pair of ears. "She doesn't say anything to _me_ about it, but the night that I was eavesdropping on her and Grandma, she was saying that she missed her first love. And Grandma was like 'that Halliwell boy was the best thing that ever happened to you and you just let him go.' blah blah blah."

The adults mentally review this development, why would Teagan's mother just let Chris go if she was still in love with him? Was she afraid of the dangerous lifestyle that he led with demons popping up everywhere? But that didn't make sense; if she was a witch with full knowledge of her powers then she must've known about the hazards that came with them….

It is a mystery they will have to leave for another time because when Henry catches sight of the time on his watch, he yelps out in surprise and points out that it is almost two thirty.

"The kids will be home soon. Including Chris." Paige smoothes her hair, now a soft red colour, and looks at Teagan. "What are you going to do about her?"

"Actually, we were hoping that maybe Phoebe could take her." Piper admits. "We don't want her seeing her father prematurely… she'll probably scare the shit, I mean, _poop_ right out of him."

"Is he still infatuated with Bianca?" Coop wants to know and Paige pretends to gag herself. Teagan giggles.

"Unfortunately, yes." Piper's voice is sour. "So, can you take her please, Phoebe?"

"Sure." Phoebe is only too happy to help. "That'll be no problem at all. Right, Teags?"

"Right, Aunt Phoebe. Oh!" Teagan suddenly remembers something. "I've gotta be back at Mrs. Rowan's place by five o'clock because that's when Mommy finishes work, and since it's Monday I've got school tomorrow and Friday."

"And on your days off from school I guess you want to come back here?" Piper knows the answer; it is clear as day on the girl's face. Teagan nods enthusiastically, then a shadow crosses her face.

"If you guys want me back." She's suddenly very modest. "I know it's a big shock finding out you're a grandparent and all… Mom was pregnant with me when she was twenty one so that was a shock for her."

"Of course we want you back." Piper hastens to make sure she feels welcome. "But remember, not a word of this to your mother, right?"

"Right. So when do I get to meet my real da-" Teagan cuts herself off, self-conscious colour suffusing her cheeks. "When do I get to meet… Christopher?"

"Not just yet, honey." Piper and Phoebe and Paige all know what it's like to want a father that you can't have (Paige's adoptive father died when she was a teen and the Halliwell sisters' father left the family when they were young). Their hearts ache for Teagan, her expression falls and her lower lip trembles. She tries to hold in her disappointment by putting on a brave face.

"Don't worry!" Paige comes to the rescue, hoping to sound chipper. "You can see your dad as soon as we get some things figured out."

"Like what things?" Teagan is one of those inquiring minds that want to know. Phoebe bounces the kid on her knee and smiles, stroking her hair back behind her ear.

"Just things." Paige says vaguely.

"Guys." Henry's voice warns them that they only have a limited amount of time left before they must end the family meeting. After exchanging swift goodbyes, Phoebe, Coop, and their new house guest teleport back home.


	3. Chapter 3

**3:**

**Squeal-a-thon**

Phoebe and Coop live in a sizeable suburban house not too far from Piper's Victorian manor. Teagan is once again impressed by the abode; she is especially entertained by the small water fountain on the lawn (depicting Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, strumming a harp). She giggles as the fountain bubbles, sticking her tiny hands underneath to catch the water that slips through her fingers.

Phoebe and Coop exchange a look; they already love this girl.

They take her inside and Phoebe helps her loosen her shoelaces; they bring her to the family room. The family room is painted a soft green colour, embellished by tasteful Park Avenue furniture and décor, there is a burnished oak cabinet against the wall that holds the television. The bottom part of the cabinet is locked; this is where Phoebe's daughters' childhood videos are stored- Cinderella, Aladdin, Little Mermaid and its sequel, etc.- Teagan seems reasonably excited by all of this.

"Are you hungry? I can get you some milk and cookies." Phoebe proposes and Teagan's face lights up. Then the five-year-old checks herself and shakes her head.

"I can't have too much sugar on weeknights. Mommy says it's bad for my teeth." Phoebe halts in surprise and then recovers. She has to remind herself that just because Teagan's stepfather seems like a louse, doesn't mean that her mother is.

"And your mom's absolutely right." Coop interjects. "Do you want some fruit?"

"No thank you." She declines, "I'm still full from lunch."

"Ooh!" Phoebe rumples her hair affectionately, "isn't she just the cutest thing?"

"Reminds me of our girls before they entered teenagedom." Coop retorts smartly.

"They're not _that _bad." Phoebe replies, "okay fine. Patricia's full of angst, but that's normal at her age. I went through it too."

"I know you did." Coop smirks, before he and Phoebe got together he was assigned to be her cupid. His task was to help her open her heart so that she could find the true love she'd been searching for- he didn't realize that he'd end up being Mr. Perfect- on one of his misadventures to help Phoebe become more "open", he travelled through her memories. Coop had witnessed Phoebe as a headstrong, manipulative teenager so he was not very surprised by his middle daughter Patricia's behaviour at all.

Suddenly, Coop's ears prick up and he clutches his heart empathetically.

"Are you okay?" Teagan blurts worriedly, since she's never seen this before she doesn't know what to expect.

"He's fine." Phoebe pats Teagan's hair and sends her hubby a glare with venom- she knows he enjoys revelling in drama whenever he hears a lonely heart calling out to be saved, but to a little girl who's never experienced it before, it looks like he's undergoing a heart attack!

"Sorry! Sorry! It's just that the couple I set up last month- you remember Austin and Vicky- they're having a little tiff. It seems Vicky's jealous of the amount of time Austin hangs out with his ex-girlfriend." Coop laments, and then smiles at the still-astounded Teagan. "Don't worry, kiddo, there's no big, earth-shattering crisis."

"Who're Vicky and Austin? How do you know about them?" She asks.

"Oh!" Coop grabs at his heart again as if he can't bear the emotional pain anymore.

"Alright already, _go_ tend to your charges! Geesh." Phoebe reaches out and taps him on the leg.

"Don't you need my help with Teagan?" Coop is so uncomfortable that he's doing a jig on the spot. Teagan laughs at his silly antics.

"Psht, are you kidding me?" Phoebe feigns offence, "I raised three children, you know! I can handle this. Now hurry up before your heart explodes and Vicky and Austin split up permanently."

Coop nods and fixes a look on his great niece. "I'll see you later, kiddo!" And with that he has teleported out.

Teagan scrunches up her face, absolutely bewildered by what just happened. "What the heck was that?" She puzzles.

Phoebe laughs and guides her over to the couch where they both plop down. "Coop is a cupid." She explains to the child who is sitting calmly beside her. Teagan bolts up, eyes popping.

"You mean like a Valentine's Day Cupid? No way!" She insists disbelievingly.

"Yup, just like one of those."

"But why doesn't he wear a diaper? Does he shoot people with arrows to make them fall in love?"

"Not exactly." Phoebe smiles at the typical misconception of her husband's profession. "Coop helps people find love but not with arrows, and he doesn't wear a diaper."

Teagan nods. "Oh. So, he can make _anybody_ he wants fall in love?" The wheels in her brain are churning quickly, Phoebe knows the expression on her face because it's one that she wore many times as a child when plotting a scheme.

"Well, Coop takes his matchmaking duties seriously… he only sets up the people that he knows are compatible with each other."

"What's that mean?"

"It means that he only sets people up if they're good together." Phoebe elucidates, "he doesn't set up people that wouldn't get along at all!"

"You mean, like my mom and Lawrence?" Teagan grins, "he's _way_ older than her. She's only twenty six and Lawrence's hair is already turning grey!"

Phoebe's eyebrows shoot up to her hairline; she rarely sees couples with such a pronounced age difference. "C'mere." She plonks Teagan onto her lap and holds both of her hands. They're so soft!

"What makes you think that your mommy and Lawrence aren't in love?"

"Lawrence is a numbskull." Teagan reveals, "he's stupid. My mom's too good for him."

"If that's so, then why do you think she married him? There has to be a reason, right?"

"If I knew the reason why I'd be _really_ smart." Teagan announces, "I think she just made a stupid mistake. I know she's an adult and stuff, but that doesn't mean she can't screw up, does it?"

"Right, everybody makes mistakes." Phoebe knows all about those; even now, when she thinks she has motherhood perfected, she still slips up and realizes that it is an ongoing learning process. And if Teagan's mother wasn't really over Chris then Lawrence would be the perfect definition of a rebound boyfriend….

Phoebe is familiar with rebound boyfriends, too. She thinks back to the time, just after she had gotten over her ex-husband Cole Turner, when she'd met Miles. The guy was sweet enough but he wasn't "lifelong partner" material; in fact, he ended up dying before his relationship with Phoebe could get serious enough for him to pop the question. But Phoebe remembers thinking to herself that Miles would be a good husband and a good father, she's sad that he died but she laughs when she remembers how foolhardy she was.

"Sooo," Phoebe stretches out the word playfully, "what are your powers?" She asks, tickling the little girl.

"I'm not sure exactly." Teagan confesses, "my mom has active powers but I don't."

"Why not?" Phoebe's mind jumps straight to the conclusion that Teagan's endowments have been bound. "Did your mom… did she bind them?"

"No," Teagan shakes her head rapidly. "She says that as long as I'm careful with them, she'll let me keep them. But she says that if I cause a big magical mess she'll have to bind them. I don't have any active powers of my own yet, but I can cast spells and stuff. That's how I got here!"

"I see. And what's your mom's power? What can she do?"

"Can't tell you that." Teagan says stubbornly, "I don't want to change the future."

"Ah… hmm." Phoebe ponders this for awhile; since she is Chris's firstborn she should have inherited the gift of telekinesis, which later progresses into astral projection. The only reason she should not be exhibiting signs of her powers is if she has never had to use them before. Phoebe realizes, with a start, that that's probably true; Teagan has probably never seen or faced a demon. Her mother doesn't want her using magic freely so no one has taught her how to tap into her abilities.

_Such a shame… _Phoebe thinks; maybe she and Coop can help Teagan learn about her powers and how to command them.

At approximately two forty five, Phoebe and Coop's three daughters crash through the front door. Teagan turns her head and looks at Phoebe inquiringly while Phoebe herself listens for any kind of trouble.

"Play hard-to-get, but don't be _too _icy or else he'll lose interest." Peyton, Phoebe's fifteen-year-old daughter is saying. Phoebe guesses she's mentoring her sister, thirteen-year-old Patricia, on how to act around the boy she likes.

"But I _can't_ play hard-to-get!" Patricia cries, "every time I see him I get the butterflies!"

Davina's ten-year-old voice breaks into the conversation. "If you like him so much, why don't you just tell him?"

"No!" Peyton insists.

"Shut up Davina, you don't know what we're talking about!" Patricia adds nastily.

"Hey!" Phoebe calls out warningly, "I don't want you girls fighting!"

"Mom?" Davina asks. "Where are you?"

"Living room." She responds, Teagan squirms in Phoebe's lap. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

"Do I have to hide now?"

"No, you don't have to." Phoebe smiles, her daughters each tumble into the room seconds later. Peyton has dark, espresso brown hair just like her father; it falls down to the middle of her back in waves. She's got tanned skin and chocolate eyes just like Phoebe, along with the megawatt smile that can catch any boy's interest. As the daughter of a Charmed One and a cupid, Peyton has the power of empathy and some of the innate powers of a cupid (as if her stunningly exotic looks weren't enough of an arsenal). She is not as experienced as her father but if she wills it hard enough, two people will become attracted to one another.

Patricia, the middle child, has the ability to see into the future. She looks like a younger version of her older sibling. Davina, the youngest one at twelve, doesn't quite mesh with the other two. Her skin is fairer, her hair lighter, and her eyes are a greyish colour. Davina does not have any "Charmed" powers but she is fully-equipped with the capabilities of a cupid.

The tern of girls stump into the living room looking peeved, but their individual irritations vanish when they see the girl on her mother's lap.

"Who's this little cutie-pie?" Peyton grins.

"She's _SO_ adorable!"

"She looks like one of my dolls!" Davina squeals.

"No she doesn't, your dolls are disgusting. She's beautiful!" Patricia coos. They all rush to their mother to inspect Teagan. Teagan looks alarmed, twisting in Phoebe's grip and trying to scrabble away.

"Back up, guys!" Phoebe orders, her voice ringing out amidst the high-pitched squealing.

"Thanks." Teagan replies, a little shaken up by the burst of attention. "Wow. You're all very… loud."

"Thanks!" Peyton bounces on the balls of her feet eagerly. "What's your name, sweetie?"

"This is Teagan!" Phoebe exclaims before Teagan can introduce herself and let slip that she's a Halliwell. "She's ah… um, she's one of your aunt Paige's cases. Paige asked me if I could watch her while the courts settle things with the parents." Considering that Phoebe is a horrid liar, it's amazing how easily and how fast the falsehood gets out.

"Oh my God! Poor baby!" Peyton exclaims in sympathy.

"Can we take her to the park or buy her ice cream?" Patricia wants to know, her boy drama is long-forgotten (for the moment).

"How come you never take _me_ to the park or to get ice cream?" Davina demands. Her sisters ignore her and Phoebe winces; Davina is like the "black sheep" of the three of them.

"Can we take her _please_, Mom?"

Phoebe shakes her head. "She has to be back with her mother by five." She recalls Teagan's self-set curfew. Her daughters look crestfallen, ready to beg, when the phone rings. Peyton jumps.

"It's probably Gavin!" She mentions her flavour of the month, a rough-and-tumble guitarist with the ambition to become a famous rock star (future celebrity, current slacker as Phoebe likes to say).

"What if it's Danny?" Patricia is hot on her heels, racing to grab the phone from its post on the kitchen wall.

"Yeah right, why would Danny call here?"

"He might!"

"Does he even have our phone number?"

"No… but he could've looked it up or something!" While they fight over the phone, Davina rolls her eyes and looks at Teagan.

"Sisters." She mutters resentfully. Phoebe smiles thinly and motions for her youngest to take a seat beside her.

"How was your day, honey?" She asks.

"Good, I guess. Sarah says she can't make it to the sleepover." Davina frowns, Sarah happens to be her best friend.

"Aww, sweetie, I'm sorry. Hey, since it's just you and two other girls, why don't I take you guys out for dinner?" Phoebe hopes the consolation will cheer her daughter's spirits. Davina is taken with the idea almost instantly.

"Can we go to Aunt Piper's restaurant?" She asks excitedly.

"Of course," Phoebe is not surprised, hardly anyone is immune to the charms of Piper's cooking. As well, most of the food is pricy and Phoebe is happy that she has the honour of getting in free. "I even asked Aunt Piper to bake some cookies for afterwards!"

"Really? Oh, good! I thought you might try to make some… no offence Mom, cooking isn't your strong point." Davina jumps off the couch. "Mom, can _I_ take Teagan to the park? I don't have any homework today."

Phoebe contemplates this for a moment; she's sure Teagan will appreciate the fresh air.

"Okay," she agrees, "I'll come with you." Patricia is sulking, leaning against the counter while they enter the kitchen. Peyton, on the other hand, is in a great mood as she twirls the phone cord around her fingers and laughs at something that the person on the other line says. Phoebe tries not to roll her eyes. _It_ _must be Gavin._

- - -

"Thinking about something?" Henry and Paige have only just gotten home; Paige has called her office to tell them she's not feeling well. This is a lie, of course, she's just preoccupied with the news that is Teagan. Henry will be going back to work (he's a parole officer who deals with troubled teens) but he figured he would talk to his wife and help her sort out her feelings first.

"No duh." Paige rolls her eyes and marches straight to the "study" in the house. The small room, used for homework purposes mostly, is just off to the left of the bathroom.

"Where are you going?" Henry follows after her like a diligent Labrador.

"I'm going to see if I can find out who Teagan's mother is." Paige boots up the computer, solely focused on the task at hand.

"That'll be nearly impossible." Henry points out logically. "Honey, you don't even know Teagan's mother's name. _Plus, _technically, Teagan doesn't exist yet so there won't be any record of her either."

"Alright, fine." Paige relents with a gusty sigh. "Why do you have to be so rational?"

"Because one of us has to be." He jokes, kissing the side of her head. She opens her mouth to continue the banter when they hear the sound of orbs jingling, and three sets of feet landing in the front hall.

"Kids are home." Henry mumbles.

"Yeah," Paige sighs wistfully, "I noticed." She brings herself up out of the computer chair and leads the way to the front hall. Henry Jr., her seventeen-year-old son and Pattianne and Pennilyn, her fifteen-year-old daughters are standing there.

"Hey Dad, what are you doing home?" Henry Jr., "Hen" asks. His father is never around when he gets back from school, his workday usually ends at five.

"Daddy!" Pattianne and Pennilyn, very much Daddy's Girls, rush to give him a hug.

"Nice to know I'm loved." Paige tosses in dryly. Hen laughs and uses his super-strength (who knows _where_ he got that power from? Paige was as surprised as everyone else when it first manifested) to lift his mother up high into the air. He kisses her cheek and plants her feet back down on the ground.

Paige laughs. "Did you have a good day?"

"I think I bombed Fitzgerald's test, actually." Henry confesses, scratching the back of his neck. Professor Fitzgerald is quite possibly the most difficult, thick-headed math teacher at Magic School. Math was never Hen's strong point and he's been struggling in the class all semester.

"Sucks to be you." Pattianne says cheerfully. Pennilyn nods in agreement.

"Be nice!" Paige scolds.

"Sorry, Mom."

"So _Dad_, why are you here?" Pennilyn asks shrewdly, she and Pattianne are fraternal twins. While Patti looks like both her mother and father, Pennilyn carries many of the attributes of her deceased aunt Prue. Weirdly, of the Charmed children, she is the one that bears the greatest physical resemblance to her.

"Me? I had a lunch date with your mother." Henry laughs, "does that satisfy your curiosity?" Pennilyn and Pattianne nod and take off towards the kitchen to do their homework.

"Got much homework?" Paige asks her eldest son sympathetically.

"Not really, just a history essay on the troll war of 1614." Hen answers, "but that's not due until next week so-"

"I think you should start it now." His father interposes, he knows how much of a procrastinator his son is. "You know, get ahead of the game." Hen grunts and stumps off to the kitchen to start his essay. Henry grins.

"You're such a stick-in-the-mud sometimes, you know? Give the kid a break." Paige says.

"I'm only being a tightass because I love him and want him to succeed." Henry drops a kiss on her red lips and begins to walk toward the front door, headed back to work. "I'll see you soon!" He shouts.

Paige rolls her eyes and ascends the stairs; she plans on using the phone in her bedroom to call Phoebe. Maybe Teagan has told her something they can use to track down her mother…

- - -

Phoebe brings Teagan back home at four, an hour early, just in case they run into trouble with getting her home. Peyton is already gone when they get back home (shopping at the mall with some friends) and Patricia is just completing her homework.

"Patricia, do you want to take Davina to the movies or something?" Phoebe suggests, hoping that Patricia will say yes. She happens to know that Patricia is infatuated with a certain actor who is in a certain romance movie, playing at the cinema.

"The movies? Now?" Patricia wrinkles up her nose. "I don't really feel like it."

"I see. Honey, can you come here for just a sec?" Phoebe asks Patricia sweetly. Her middle child looks confused but stands up and ambles over, Phoebe leads her out of earshot of the younger kids.

"Look," she starts, fixing her daughter with a serious stare. Patricia gulps; she's learned to interpret that stare- it means that something serious is going on and Phoebe wants her assistance. "I need you to keep your sister busy for awhile, okay?"

"Why?" Patricia demands, "what's going on? Does it have something to do with Teagan?"

Phoebe curses herself internally and starts to spin another lie. But it never quite makes it past her lips. "No- fine, yes. But you can't tell anyone."

"Do the aunts know?" Patricia asks conversationally; if the aunts know then there's _definitely_ something going down.

"Yes!" Phoebe affirms. "Now will you _please_ take your sister out?"

"Will you tell me what all of this is about?" Patricia challenges, she's not going to be so easy to persuade.

Phoebe sighs. "I'd like to but I can't. Patty, _please_ keep Teagan a secret… none of your cousins can know about her just yet."

"Why not?" Now Patricia looks worried. "What's going on Mom? You can tell me."

Phoebe shakes her head. "I don't really know that much myself." She confesses. "Now, will you please just do as I ask?"

"Alright, fine. But I wanna know what's going on as soon as you do!" Patricia negotiates.

"Maybe." Phoebe decrees. The thirteen-year-old rolls her eyes, as if her mother is insufferable, and turns around to go about keeping Davina occupied. When Phoebe's two daughters have left the house, Phoebe brings Teagan to the basement (they don't have an attic so the basement suffices as the place where they practice magic.

"Okay, sweetie," Phoebe crouches down in front of Teagan. "Do you remember what you did to get here? Can you get yourself back?"

"Of course!" Teagan replies confidently and then she sways on her feet, suddenly timid. "I don't know if the spell I used will work, but…" she takes a deep breath and begins to recite the incantation that will hopefully lead her home.

"_Like summer sun, like winter snow,_

_Kids have places they need to go,_

_So hear this rhyme and hear it good,_

_Take me where I need to be,_

_Take me home, please."_

Sure enough, the basement wall looks like it is being ripped open and a bright blue triquetra (the Charmed Ones' symbol) appears. Phoebe hugs the girl to her chest, bidding her farewell. "Just remember, you can come back anytime, okay?"

Teagan grins mischievously. "Oh, I _plan_ on it!" Then she steps into the portal; Phoebe watches the little figure retreat until the triquetra disappears and she is left standing in an empty basement.

* * *

**First of all, I'd like to apologize for waiting so long to get this up (school's been running my life lately). As well, I'd like to thank all of the people who have reviewed and those who have put the story on their favourites/alert list. It means a lot! Lastly, I went back and fixed all of the errors in the last chapter (for some reason, a lot of words got stuck together? I'm not entirely sure why because the document on my computer isn't like that).**

**Let me know what you thought, please? -smiles-. Click the purple review button... you know you want to.**


	4. Chapter 4

**4:  
Mommy**

Teagan steps back through the portal, feeling dizzy enough to vomit. She stumbles and almost falls, grasping onto the edge of her dresser for support. Her townhouse has neither an attic nor a basement, so she is forced to conduct magical mayhem in her own bedroom. Teagan is thankful that Lawrence and his sons are gone all week on a fishing trip because she would hate to be caught by them.

Teagan has no time to pause and collect herself- she has to be at Mrs. Rowan's _now_! She flings open the door and rushes down the stairs, dashing out the door and across the lawn. She tiptoes through the backdoor of Mrs. Rowan's house, hoping that she will not get caught. Luckily, no one is in the kitchen so she is free to exit and run to the living room. She leaps on the couch and squirms under the thin blanket that Mrs. Rowan provided for her earlier that morning- Teagan knows that her elderly babysitter won't know that she was gone. Mrs. Rowan happens to be very aware of her own mortality; she makes it a priority to stay away from people who feel ill. Teagan is willing to bet that Mrs. Rowan has not even checked on her once- the old woman is so absentminded that she can barely remember what year it is.

Teagan's suspicions prove correct; at five o'clock, Mrs. Rowan sticks her head around the living room door, pinching her nose with one pudgy hand.

"Teagan dear, your mother's here." Mrs. Rowan breathes deeply, turning her head away from the living room.

"Okay!" Teagan starts to spring off the couch but then recalls that she is supposed to be sick. She makes a great show of sliding to the floor and wobbling out of the room, to the front, where her mother is waiting.

Teagan's mother, Jenny, is standing just by the front door waiting. When she sees Teagan, carrying on her dramatic performance, she hurries over to her.

"How are you feeling, baby?" Jenny smoothes some hair behind Teagan's ear and kisses her forehead. Teagan only nods drowsily and mumbles something incoherent. Jennifer looks up to consult with the babysitter.

"She slept all day." Mrs. Rowan reports (Teagan has to hide a smirk). "I hope she doesn't have that stomach virus that's going around."

"I hope not." Jenny scoops her daughter into her arms, adjusting her purse. "Thanks for watching her, Liz."

"No problem." Mrs. Rowan assures her, and then she hurries to the kitchen where she hopes she will be safe from contracting the "stomach virus".

Teagan burrows her face against her mother's neck as they walk across the lawn, back to their own little house; it's by no means a sloppy residence (Jenny takes pride in making her townhouse look decent) but Teagan is no longer awed by it, having seen her relatives' respective homes.

"Do you want some chicken noodle soup?" Jenny offers stroking Teagan's back. She feels horridly guilty about leaving her child at the babysitter's- then again, she can blame that on the lazy new girl at the front desk who neglected to tell her that Mrs. Rowan called _five times_.

"Okay." Teagan agrees meekly. Jennifer fishes around in her coat pocket for her house keys, her brow furrows when she realizes that the door is already unlocked.

"That's odd."

"What is?" Teagan is just glad to be back at home with her mother- and soon enough, if her plan works, she'll be with her father too!

"I thought Lawrence told me he locked the door before he left on his fishing trip. He must've forgotten." Teagan hides her guilty face in the crook of her mother's neck; Lawrence had locked the door before leaving but when Teagan snuck back into the house, she'd used the spare key under the matt to get in.

Jenny steps through the door, flipping on the hall light and setting Teagan down. The five-year-old sits on the stairs and watches her mother hang her coat in the small closet. Teagan, like most five-year-olds, idolizes her mother and thinks she's quite possibly the prettiest women in the world. Jennifer has pale skin, full lips, big hazel eyes, long, light brown hair that falls just past her shoulders, and a big, wide smile. Teagan's hand instinctively taps at her pocket where the picture of her parents is.

She thinks they look good together. She hopes that they reconcile, otherwise her going to the past will be for nothing. Her eventual plan is to have her grandma and her aunts help her set her parents up with each other- and her uncle being a cupid is an amazing bonus!

But Teagan knows she has to be careful; she can only tell them things when the time is right or she could screw something up indefinitely. That much she knows from watching TV.

Teagan follows her mother into the kitchen and sits on a chair while Jenny busies herself with making soup. Now that Kyle and Darren and Lawrence are out of the house and out of the way, Teagan can feel herself relaxing.

_Now it's just me and Mommy…_

Jenny sets down two bowls of soup and two spoons. Teagan digs into her dinner enthusiastically, forgetting for a second that she is supposed to be sick. After eating dinner, Jenny washes the dishes by hand and puts them away, Teagan just sits there and observes. Finally, Jenny looks up and asks:

"What are you staring at?" She's bemused; Teagan has never been so still or acted so concentrated before.

"Nothing. You're just really pretty." Teagan compliments.

"Thank you." Jenny smiles, "was that your way of trying to butter me up so I'll take you to Toys R Us tomorrow?"

Teagan grins, a grin that matches her mother's perfectly. "Noooo Mommy." She wags her head. "I just think you're very pretty, that's all."

"I see. Well, thank you." Jenny smiles, "you know who's really beautiful though?"

"Who?"

"_You_ of course, silly!" Jenny replies. Then, "Come on, I'll run you a nice warm bath and afterwards we can watch a movie."

"Aww man, I _hate_ baths!" Teagan complains. "Can't I just use magic to get clean? Lawrence and his annoying sons aren't here to see us."

Jenny knows that she should reprimand Teagan for speaking of her surrogate family so critically, but she finds that the only thing she's able to do is avert her eyes and try not to laugh.

"Teagan, you know magic is a very special gift." Jenny decides to lecture her on her powers instead. Her daughter nods, of course she knows that magic is special, no other kids on the block can travel to the past and back! "We can't just use it whenever we want, even though it would be cool to use it for certain things. We have to be aware of the consequences."

"I know Mommy." Teagan rolls her green eyes. "Why are you so worried?"

Jenny debates whether or not to delve into the world of demonic evils with her daughter and then decides against it; this night is so quiet and peaceful that she doesn't want to shatter it by bringing up something that will give her daughter nightmares.

"Because I'm your mother and it's my job to be." Jenny shakes her head. "Let's go get that bath started, okay?"

"Do I _have to_?"

"It will make you feel better." Jenny goads.

"Fine." Teagan follows her mother upstairs and into the bathroom peevishly. She doesn't see the need for baths every other day- she doesn't stink like her stepbrothers do!

Jenny helps Teagan change into her nightclothes and the two of them go down to the living room to watch an instalment of the _Land Before Time_ saga together. Jenny watched the cartoon series when she was a child herself and she is happy that it is still around, and that she kept all of her old videotapes, so that Teagan can enjoy it too.

All through the movie Teagan is ridden with guilt; she wonders what would happen if her mother knew what she'd _really_ been up to that day. But the more significant question is will Teagan ever get the chance to meet her biological father? She sincerely hopes so, and then she ponders _why_ her parents split up in the first place. This question is enough to keep her mentally entertained for the rest of the movie and she is still trying to figure it out as she clambers up the stairs to go to bed.

Teagan's room is moderately-sized with soft pink walls, white carpet, and a large canopy "princess-style" bed. She also has a dresser and a closet which house all of her outfits. In the corner, she has a bookshelf stacked with children's books- Jenny wants to teach her to read early so that she can have a head-start in life. Her bed is topped with various plush toys including a brown-and-white lion named Lancelot (her most cherished material possession), and a small teddy bear that is holding a velvet heart between its two forepaws. The bear used to belong to Jenny and during her lonely and trying pregnancy, Teagan's mother had slept with that bear, clutching it like a lifeline. After Teagan's birth, Jenny relinquished the toy to her daughter without telling her much of the story behind it- luckily, Teagan doesn't even know how meaningful the bear is- _**was**_, Jenny feels no attachment to the stupid thing anymore- to her mom.

Teagan hops up on the bed and snuggles down under the covers.

"Want to read tonight?" Jenny asks her.

"No." Teagan declines, she usually enjoys reading but she has much more important things on her mind than Dr. Seuss at current. "I wanna talk now."

"Really?" Jenny smiles, amused, and sits on the edge of the bed. "What do you feel like talking about?"

Teagan sighs heavily. "You might not like me for bringing this up, but…"

"What is it, Teags?" One of Jenny's eyebrows is quirked higher than the other as she scrutinizes her only daughter. Teagan sighs again and pulls on her arm.

"Lie down," she instructs seriously. "Get comfortable."

"O…kay." Jenny slides under the covers as she is bid and flips over to face her daughter. She is momentarily distracted by Teagan's physical resemblance to her birth father, those malachite green eyes sparkle as they stare back at her.

"Mommy, are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, I spaced out for a second." Jenny forces a smile and tucks an errant strand of dark brown hair behind Teagan's ear. "Now, what's on your mind, love?"

"Dad."

"Dad?" Jenny repeats, frowning as if she has never heard the term before- as if it is a foreign concept that she just cannot seem to process despite her best efforts.

"Dad." Teagan props her face in her hand, waiting for a few seconds. When she's certain that Jenny won't offer any objections, she goes on. "I want to know about him." Jenny withholds a weary sigh; she knows she shouldn't be surprised; Teagan has every right to know about her biological father, but Jenny had hoped that the conversation wouldn't be for about another five years.

"You're mad," Teagan indicts, biting her bottom lip, her green eyes shadowing with worry.

"No," Jenny clears her throat. "_No_, I'm not."

"Are you lying?"

"Teagan Rose Fischer, why would I lie?" Jenny uses her offspring's full name, grinning.

"Well, this is probably very uncomfortable for you." Teagan answers, "but you're trying not to show it because you don't want me to feel bad."

"You're a smart one, Teags." Jenny praises. "But for the last time, I'm _fine_. What do you want to know about your father?"

"Do you love him?" Jenny is stunned, she was expecting a few light, fluffy questions; apparently her daughter wastes no time beating around the bush.

"I… I did once, yes." Jenny agrees. She feels a small knot of guilt forming in her stomach. But why? She's over Chris and she's a happily married woman… right? Yes, she's only reacting strangely because this conversation has taken a significant turn too quickly for her liking.

"How come he doesn't know about me?" Teagan prods, she's on a mission to uncover the truth and she won't rest until she's satisfied with her work.

"He doesn't need to," Jenny replies. The conversation is interrupted by the shrill ringing of a phone from the hallway, Teagan rolls her eyes.

"It's _Lawrence_." She mutters disdainfully, rolling over. Jenny kisses her daughter's temple, assures her that she'll be back in five minutes, and goes to retrieve the phone. As Teagan predicted, it's Lawrence, calling to report some bad news.

"Honey, our boat's motor is shot. Can you wire us some money to get it fixed?"

"Um," Jenny stalls, funds are tight right now. If they keep spending money on luxury activities and items, they'll never have enough saved up to move out of this house. "How much do you need?"

"The guy at the repair shop says he needs six hundred."

"That's a lot," Jenny comments, with a noise of disbelief.

"Yeah, I know. Can you send it or not?" Now he sounds irritated.

"Alright." She nods, "don't get snappy with me. I'll wire it to you tomorrow, is that okay?"

"Yeah, there's a motel next to the repair place. It's probably infested with cockroaches but…"

"If I could have it wired to you now I would, but Teagan's sick."

"So just leave her home while you go to the bank."

"_No!_ Something could happen!"

"Like what?"

"Like…" _a demon attack, a kidnapping, a break-in_… "She's too young to be left by herself anyway." Jenny insists. She knows if she brings up her kidnapping/break-in theories, Lawrence will mock her for them (he thinks she's too paranoid) and she can't explain the whole demon thing.

"Shit, babe, I've gotta go. Kyle just caught his hand on a fish hook."

"Alright," Jenny sighs. "Bye, Lawrence."

"Bye." And that's that.

Jenny hangs up the phone but remains standing there for awhile, trying to collect herself and figure out how she will explain the tale of herself and Chris to Teagan. She closes her eyes and for a moment- just one tiny yet definite moment- she thinks about an alternative life. A life in which she is not married to Lawrence, but Chris, her first love. She can see it behind her eyelids clear as a movie on the big screen at the theatre and it's so blissfully wonderful yet heart-achingly painful at the same time. She opens her eyes and heads back to Teagan's room, her daughter is sitting up in bed, wide-awake. _Of course._

"You were right." Jenny declares, strolling across the room with the ghost of a smile on her face. "Lawrence called."

"And what did he want? More money?" Teagan scoffs, folding her arms abrasively against her chest.

"Teagan!" Jenny rebukes, "I don't know what's gotten into you tonight but this anti-Lawrence attitude is very rude and uncalled for."

"Whatever," Teagan rolls those green eyes in a long-suffering sort of way, just like Chris would have. "What did he want, then?"

"The boat's motor isn't working properly, first thing in the morning, before I drop you off at school; we're going to head to the bank. Okay?"

"He does need money." Teagan flops back in bed dramatically, holding onto Lancelot.

"Yeah." Jenny bites her lip, "but you shouldn't worry about stuff like that."

"I'm not." Teagan closes her eyes. "Mommy, will you stay with me?"

"Of course, lovely." Jenny acquiesces, "just let me go put on my pyjamas." When she returns, Teagan is conked out, clutching the plush lion to her chest with a smile on her face. Jenny's own mouth melts into a smile as she sees this, the everyday pressures and stresses of life temporarily fading away. She slides into bed next to her daughter, kisses Teagan's temple, wraps an arm around her and hesitantly grabs the teddy bearing the velvet heart. She can't seem to part with it after all these years.

* * *

**So there's chapter four! I want to apologize to you guys for taking so long to get this up, and I also want to thank those of you that put me on your favourite/alert list. It means a lot. -Smiles-**

**ALSO: **

**1) I've noticed that some of you have been asking for a more detailed physical description of Teagan; I've already mentioned in previous chapters that she looks a lot like Chris (she has the same dark brown hair, the same green eyes, and for good measure, the same nose, which is something that I haven't mentioned). She also carries some of Jenny's attributes (most notably her big smile).**

**2) I haven't had much experience with creating OC's before and I have the feeling that something about Jenny is just... off. I will try my best to remedy that as time goes on.**


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